Music theatre group Orkater, the festival Noorderslag and the children’s theatre group Theater Terra are among the established names losing their government subsidies from next season.

In total, the performing arts fund had €27m to give away for the 2017 to 2021 period, a drop of 30% on the previous funding round.

Twenty three organisations get no subsidy at all and 28 newcomers will benefit from government grants. Just 12 out of 54 performing arts festivals will get government money from next year, even though the fund judged 34 positively.

‘We are once again being faced with making very difficult choices,’ said director Henriëtte Post. ‘We are looking at the applications, not the best 84 groups. Reviewers may reach a different conclusion.’

Half the grants will go to performing arts groups in Amsterdam and three quarters will go to the big four cities.